How I got into wrestling or, if it was a fic: “The two times wrestling presented itself to me and I turned it down, and the one time I didn’t”.

1: Boy Meets World 1995 – (Vader)

Boy Meets World was my happy place. It was silly nonsense, but it was enjoyable. I wanted to be best friends with Topanga and possibly date Shawn (depending on whether or not he was in his poetry stage). Basically, I wanted to be Cory. Although if I was Cory, I would’ve made more of an effort to befriend Harley, Frankie and Joey, because they were adorable. Also: TK.

I digress.

Boy Meets World had several episodes featuring Vader as Frankie’s father. Because this got to me early, it is still my personal head-cannon that Vader is actually Ethan Suplee’s dad. No amount of evidence to the contrary will make me believe otherwise. (The My Name is Earl commentary – “that’s Ethan’s dad” – Me: “LIES!”)

Also, Vader’s appearance gave us this quote:

“My father is not a poet. He is a professional wrestler, villain category, with the World Wrestling Federation.”

However, wasn’t that fussed. Kind of liked Vader, but not enough to get interested in wrestling.

This was a mistake.

Also, I need to buy this

Boy Meets Vader Shirt

2: Ex Boyfriend – 2001 (Triple H)

In the first few months of my relationship with my ex, we went into town and purchased some DVDs. I bought Final Destination, he bought something WWE-related. It had a green cover, a cage match and plenty of blood. Fairly sure Triple H was the draw of that match, remember a lot of big blonde guys bleeding a lot. Then again, for all I know, it could’ve been Edge and Christian. If it is, I’m really fucking sorry.

In our tiny bedroom, I would occasionally glance up at the TV, but was mostly involved in a book. We had a conversation that went something like this:

Ex: Why aren’t you watching?

Me: Too bloody.

Ex: You’re a horror fan.

Me: I know, but that’s fake blood. This is just gross. It doesn’t achieve anything, it’s just… blood. Everywhere. For no reason. Who would do that to themselves?

Ex: It’s all fake, you know.

Me: Even more reason for me to stick to my movies then. This is just bollocks.

Given that I’m now pretty much addicted to CZW, this conversation was also a mistake. Every month on payday, SmartMark Video stands there, eyeing me appraisingly, with a hand out, ready for me to buy some CZW PPVs.

3: Husband – 2010 (Kofi Kingston)

I came home from a work function, and oddly Kim didn’t come in for a brew after. Craig, the husband, was watching wrestling. He’d been watching since the previous Christmas, when his sister had left it on in the background, allegedly to appease the kids who were addicted, but she later confided that she still loved it.

Since that Christmas, Craig had been watching religiously. He was working from home and liked something on in the background as he worked. Between Raw, Smackdown, Superstars and NXT, he was pretty well covered for something to watch. He was also desperate for someone to talk wrestling to. He had taken to calling his friend, Paul, to update him, despite Paul’s very vocal protests that he didn’t care. Paul, in response, had taken to blocking Craig’s calls.

I was planning on going to bed straight away, but instead decided to sit down and watch a match. To force a sense of caring, I picked someone to win. “The guy with the dreadlocks, I want him to win,” I said to Craig.

“Kofi? He can’t buy a win at the moment,” Craig replied.

Kofi won.

And I was hooked.

Then Edge appeared.

My type generally speaking is tall, long hair, with loads of tattoos. (That’s almost the exact opposite of my husband. Something he has pointed out to me repeatedly.)

When the episode finished, I turned to Craig. “Where’s the rest?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always watching wrestling. Where’s the rest? I want to see it now!”

If we hadn’t already been engaged, I’m pretty sure Craig would have proposed on the spot.

Well, my resolution to blog more has already crashed and burned. In my defence, I spent half of February in Las Vegas, and the other half preparing for it. As for my March excuse… I got nothing.

Social

High: I went to Las Vegas and got married on my 10 year anniversary to Craig. Carla gave me away. Jake took many pictures. It was perfect.

Wedding Day – 21 February 2014

Many vicious games of Cards Against Humanity were played. Pretty jewellery was purchased from BicoLV – Carla and I have matching bracelets, and we will buy a new charm every time we achieve a goal (or something is really pretty and we need it right now).

Low: Carla mentioned saying goodbye, and that was hard. Another thing was just how busy Las Vegas is. Carla and I get over-socialised, and Las Vegas is a place where that happens quite easily. Next time we’re renting a holiday house somewhere. Or an island. Or a lighthouse. It depends on Carla’s mood and how much Enid Blyton she reads before booking.

Writing

High: Carla and I sent The Talking Dead to first readers. Craig, my husband(!), has given us feedback. We are waiting for further feedback, but Craig’s is always very thorough and fair.

As for Monsters and Music, the sequel, parts of that are writing themselves and sticking twos up at the outline. Characters are taking charge as we get to know their voices and realise that they’re not going to react as we outlined… oh god, do I sound a bit like a certain author who believes her characters are real and is quick to litigate over fanfic?

Also, as Carla mentioned, Intern promoted himself to Manager in our absence. I asked him if that meant we needed to pay him. He said no. So, yay, my manager doesn’t need paying, but boo, my manager is a bit of an idiot.

Low: We’ve not had much time to work on Monsters and Music, and we need to review the outlines, based both on the feedback from Craig, and the small changes that have been made on M&M.

The Nox series is bothering me a lot at the moment, and I think it’s bugging Carla too, because when I briefly mentioned it, she got that gleam in her eye, before quickly saying, “We’re not working on that at the moment.”

Reading

High: I’ve read a fair bit of chick lit over the holiday, and, by strange coincidence, they were written by Lynne Moriarty, who is the sister of Jaclyn Moriarty, whose books I gave to Carla as a gift. I’m also re-reading old favourites by Stephen King.

Low: I’ve not found anything un-put-down-able since I read the Gone series by Michael Grant. I want to find something that awesome again.

Wrestling

High: I got to watch the Elimination Chamber with Carla and Jake. I love the Elimination Chamber, it’s my favourite PPV of the year (although nothing will touch the 2011 one). Watching wrestling with Carla is awesome.

I also saw a live event in Vegas. One of the matches pitched The Shield against Christian. Words cannot express how much I love Dean Ambrose and Christian. To see them in the ring together live was awesome. Sadly, I didn’t get any good pictures, I was still getting used to the camera. I did get a pretty good shot of the Bella twins though.

Things I like:

When Punk does a swinging neckbreaker, preferably on someone agile, like Bryan, and it looks awesome.

When Seth and Bryan wrestle. I could watch them for the whole three hour show.

The divas division. And, for that matter, Total Divas on E! It’s very uncool to do so, but I will take the divas getting screen time any way possible. And while I have favourites (Nikki Bella), I have no interest in ripping anyone who isn’t my favourite to shreds. Don’t be a bully, fandom, be a star.

Staying up for pay per views (every month, without fail) and live tweeting about it (not through my girl_canfield account at twitter – I try to keep the wrestling off my real twitter). Also, watching the pre-show with Carla via Skype.

They way Paul Heyman clearly is lying and yet I believe every single word he says. That man owns me every time he speaks. As a side note, I went to the live show in Leeds on 14 November, and he greeted us with “Ladies and gentlemen,” when we booed, he responded with, “Oh, you boo when I call you ladies and gentlemen? Fine. Things that live in Leeds…” To quote Carla when faced with something too awesome: DED.

The commentators on the last show before Christmas, they tend to be a little more weird than usual. Actually, any time the commentators go off topic and get each other laughing (Josh’s “Stone Cold! Stone Cold!” moment; JBL recently using the phrase “heat” and Cole trying to cover; and, naturally, when the entire team stole Booker T’s catch phrases).

Heath Slater’s hair. It is the exact shade I would love my hair to be.

The incredible selling skills of Dolph, Seth and Slater.

The tag team division.

Things I dislike:

When the WWE decides they’re hot on someone and ram them down our throats at every opportunity – I’m not talking about Cena, we just have to learn to live with that one, ok, IWC? I mean when they go through phases with people, Big Show and Sheamus are the ones that spring to mind. At some point both were wrestling and promo-ing on both shows at least twice. And then they feuded with each other, at which point I started praying for the infatuation to end. If I didn’t love the Shield, I would hate them because they’re on TV so much.

The way I can’t pick a side on the Cena thing. If you consider yourself smarky (a smart mark – someone who knows it’s pre-determined, but still enjoys it), you’re supposed to hate him because he’s Super Cena, the undefeatable, unbreakable super star. And yet, I really like him. I hate the way he’s booked at times, but he seems like a nice guy in real life, he’s dedicated to the company, and he can definitely wake up the crowd.

And going on the opposite of the above, the way I can’t force myself to like Del Rio for longer than a few minutes at a time. He is a fantastic wrestler and I really wish I liked him, but he is a world of bland, now he’s lost Ricardo.

The fact that tornado tag team matches (where everyone is in the ring at once, no need for tagging), are just a thing that no longer happens. And also when tag team matches are no disqualification and nobody takes advantage of this and turns it into a tornado match.

Wishlist:

I wish Wade Barrett, William Regal and Damien Sandow would team up and form a well-spoken gentleman’s club.

That Dean Ambrose would be a little more Jon Moxley when the Shield eventually dissolves. When I refer to him as Moxley (or Mox), I mean the character he had in the indies, the guy who gave us quotes such as, “You won’t quit? Fine. I’ll make you bleed to death in the ring!” (paraphrased) and “You, sir, are a coward, and I can defeat you with a fork and a spoon!” (verbatim). I’m not one of those strange fans who think you get extra points by referring to WWE stars by their indy or real names.

About Me
The girl who codes. The smug little know-it-all. The wrestling fan. The girl who does “Tea and Terror” every weekend. The girl who wants to be a writer of young/new adult fiction. Co-writes with Carla Lee.

The People I MentionCarla (BFF, co-writer and epic troll)
Kim (BFF, fellow tea-drinker and epic troll)
Craig (husband, gamer and epic troll)
Intern (Carla's nephew, bossy boots, and not much of a troll)